Brabantse gedachten / Thoughts from Brabant

For some time now, a shady debate (not really a debate, more a guerrilla war) is raging around the fundamental question: does it cost more fossile fuel to generate a biofuel or not. In the US, ethanol is promoted as a (part) substitute for gasoline and federal and state subsidies and taxbreaks run in the several billions USD to promote ethanol. Cornfarmers and - to a lesser degree- soybean farmers make good business, but the ethanol industry is the big winner.

Prof Patzek of UC Berkeley and Prof Pimentel of Cornell Univ. beg to differ. They say that, if you take all energy inputs in proper account, ethanol production costs some 25 to 60 % more energy than it delivers. That means that the US needs MORE foreign oil instead of LESS if it continues to promote ethanol. Or, in other words, you must burn up to 1,5 gallons of oil to obtain 1 gallon of ethanol (which has less power than gasoline, by the way).

The Ethanol producers, organised in ACE, and the USDA disagree. Through complex manipulation of the data, or downright omitting important energy-inputs (because they are hard to estinmate, or because they are considered not important, or even because they are not liquid fuels), and allocating some postive energy effects to by-products (cattle feed), they arrange it to get a positive outcome.

For the informed reader an interesting debate.

The debate in Holland heats up: yes or no for the EU constitution. Whereas many people are in favour of economic and political cooperation between the European countries, in Holland many believe we should keep some independence to preserve what we call typical Dutch rights and institutions. The government tries to persuade us that a 'yes' from the voters is necessary to bring Europa forward, to increase democratic rules, to have better security and terrorism-control across Europa. The 'no' proponents argue that new negotiarions between the dutch governmenr and the EU are necessary to make specific exceptions for Holland in the area of immigration-laws, social security and free import of labour from within the EU.
It seems that the 'no' voters are getting the upper hand.

fallcolours 

noordkaap 

lake menesjarvi 

Revontulet 

Here are some more pictures from Lapland, vacation 2002 and 2003.

Mari Boine  

Finland 2002 

My favourite vacation spot (from Netherlands) is Scandinavia, particularly the most northern parts: Lapland. Besides vast empty spaces with forests, tundra and rocky hills you find mucg wildlife and small villages. The Sami people are mostly friendly and live still a simple rural life. As for music: I love Mari Boine, a Sami singer-songwriter who combines the ancient yoik-style singing with modern rock and metal sounds. They call it trans-yoik, and it sounds really wonderfull. Mari Boine started singing about 30 years ago. Raised by reborn-christian parents, she found her Sami roots when teaching on a Sami elementary school in the far north.

There is a picture of her and some more pictures of Sapmi.

I found out today, via the Elsevier website (dutch weekly), that democracy tries very hard to get back on its feet in Iraq. The people from the Iraqi pro-democracy Party deserve a lot of help and support from all democratic people in the world. In spite of the troublesome security situation over there, there are actually people who have hope and offer a more optimistic outlook to the future. May the force be with them!

Noorderlicht (Revontulet in het Fins) over het Menesjarvi meer in September 2003.

Hallo, zojuist begonnen op dit voor mij nieuwe pad. Voorlopig zal ik eerst moeten wennen aan bloggen, maar het lijkt me leuk. Morgen meer.